Esther Baum Born

Esther Baum Born (1902–1987) was an American architect, author and architectural photographer who lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Mexico. She is known for authoring the book The New Architecture in Mexico (with the assistance of her husband, Ernest Born), which also includes articles on the painting and sculpture by Justino Fernández. She traveled in Mexico for 10 months, photographing and drawing historic and modern buildings, ultimately attracting global attention to the dawn of Mexico's modern architecture. Working mostly behind the scenes, she was integral to the success of the Ernest Born architecture firm.

Esther Baum (Born) was born 1902 in Palo Alto, California, as the oldest of three daughters of Frank A. Baum, an electrical engineer and inventor, and his wife, Mary, nee Dawson. She grew up in Piedmont and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1920. She studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley under John Galen Howard, earning a bachelor's degree in 1924. As recommended by Professor Howard for all his students, she stayed on for graduate studies. She also worked for architect Henry H. Gutterson until she traveled for a year in Europe to study languages and history of art. In 1926 she married architect Ernest Born.

After their marriage, the Borns traveled and studied in France and Italy before they settled in New York. From 1929 to 1936 they both worked in various architectural offices and established their own studio with associate Carl Bertil Lund, who continued to work with them for more than forty years. One of their first projects was the New York Offices and Tasting Room for wine importers Bates & Schoonmaker, which was published in Architectural Forum and Architectural Review. Ernest was credited as the architect; Esther as the photographer. In early 1933, Esther Born took an intensive course in architectural photography with photographer Ben Rabinovitch and later showed her work in a group exhibition and solo shows at the Rabinovitch Gallery. She also took graduate classes in architecture at Columbia University.

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